The Portland daily press., 1887-07-02
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TALK ABOUT PARROTS.
The Best Varieties and How to Take
care of Them.


The Best Varieties and How to Take
Care of Them.
The parrot population of this city is est-
mated at 10000, says the New York Sun.
The pollys,..as they are all called, without dis
tinction Of sex, are interesting subjects of
study. There are good parrots and bad par
rots, just as there are good children and bad
children. The bad parrot is one which has
not forgotten the harsh, discordant screams
of parrot language in the tropical forests,
and INDUCES in them throughout the live
long day. He is also the possessor of lin
tied vocabulary of the "Polly wants crack
err style, whose endless reiteration is even
more aggravatingly annoying than his natu-
raj screeching and chattering. A bird like
this in the early morning can make the seek
er for an extra nap believe that 10000 par
rotS is too small an estimate of the city's
parrot population.
The screeching nuisance can be discour-
aged and ultimately reformed by judiciously
administered punishments. The vocabula-
ry can be extended and made interesting by
careful training and some melodious and
tuneful whistling may be taught as pleas
ant adjunct to the spoken word. Then the
bad parrot having become good, hard feel
ings will disappear from the neighborhood.
The reason there are so few good parrots is
found in the great mortality among these
birds. While in the process of reformation
and education they die in such great num-
Ders tnat steady stream of recruits is nee
essarlly kept coming into the country. The
result is to keep down the proportion of
good parrots, birds that can talk considera-
bly,, swear intelligibly, sing something and
whistle tunes
A reporter had his attention attracted by
fine parrot in front of Jefferson market the
other day. Stopping to look at it his
thoughts reverted to the appalling death
rate among parrots, and he was pitying the
pretty fellow when the latter suddenly
lerked his head sideways with the question,
whats the matter with you, hey?" fol-
lowed by a burst of uproarious laughter
florist, was for years bird fancier, though
he does not now keep birds for sale. Mr..
Morris talked entertainingly.
Sam IS very smart Bird" said he. Il
call him Sam for short His full name is
Samuel J. Randall. When you are disposed
to pity Sam on account of any impression on
your part that he is in any danger of. losing
his excellent health you are away off. /
have three other parrots in Just as good
shape. 1t is the effect of their care and diet.
They get no bread. no coffee, no fruit, no
vegetables, no hemp seed, and especially no
meat. They do get plenty of good, plain
carry seed, water, and a liberal supply of
sand and gravel. TwO-thirds of the NOR
tality amog parrots comes from overlooking.
Some years ago | came to this conclusion.
Inc birds that came to me sick and feyerish.
with ragged, dull and dirty plumage, were so
evidently suffering from dyspepsia that over
feeding was the first thought as to the cause.
In their confined state, having little or no
exercise, they suffer if they are stuffed with
rich, heavy food.
tanned all the necessary element of nourish-
ment In simple, easily digestible form. l
determined to make the experiment A sick
parrot that was brought into me was chosen
as promising. subject; He had suffered
from dyspepsia for months. and was a miser-
able looking bird that seemed bound to die
anyway. thought he might as well die
testing my treatment as to perish in the old
fashioned way of being stuffed to DEATH l
put him in clean cage, and for "a hours put
no food OF any kind in the cups. Then put
in little hemp seed, so that the bird would
neither starve nor get enough to eat The
hemp seed lasted only part of the day. and
the next morning put in some canary seed.
When the hemp seed was gone that day the
bird began picking at and playing with the
to crack and eat it. Then gradually lessened
the quantity of hemp seed, and after while
supplied nothing but the canary seed Old
bird fanciers shook their heads and said the
bird could not live on canary seed alone. and
that was bound to lose him. But perse-
vered, and the result justified me. The bird
steadily improved in condition and plumage.
have since, repeated the treatment many
times with the same success, and have adopt
ed canary seed as the standard and sole food
for my parrots Several fanciers and ladies
who have seen my birds tried it, too, and
do parrots have to be kept in very
warm temperatures"
THAT is the popular belief, but my expe-
rience has been that parrots can be made
capable OF enduring as much cold as any 9TH
er bird"
What is your opinion as to the merits of
the different breeds?"
'There are individual exceptions, but |
think that the Mexican double yellow head
is the best all round bird. He is apt to be
well. sing well, and whistle nicely. The
African gray, with red tail feathers, talks
well and whistles, but rarely sings. These
birds die in great numbers either on the
voyage or soon after their importation, re-
suit largely due, | think to their feeding.
They get soaked bread, bread and milk,
crackers and coffee and cracked corn. If
they were trained to eat canary seed before
shipment nine-tenths OF the consignments
would come through all right, and keep in
good condition afterward. African parrots
are less excitable than those from our tropi-
cal regions, and are more easily domesticated
and become more attached to their owners.
1.-The Brazilian yellow neck, or golden
nape, is also magnificent specimen of the
talking parrot, but he is excitable and ner-
vous. His voice is full and human-like, but
he does not learn readily, and never has
much of a vocabulary. The single yellow
head, Central American variety, is good
bird, and many of them turn out to be excel
lent takers. They also learn to sing and
whistle"
do parrots ever forget what they have
acquired?"
"Indeed they do Many persons believe
that if they get good talking bird, it will
continue to talk well. This is a mistake.
The. memory Of a parrot has to be often re-
freshed; A bird that has been trained to
talk and whistle and sing would, if left to
listen for few months, forget these accom-
plishments and take up the cries and screams
of its wild state.'
do parrots breed in captiyity?"
''They have been bred in France. But is
troublesome and expensive task to do it. Be-
sides, the birds are so excitable and jealous
when mating that they become untitled for
pets. They breed so rapidly in such wide
extent of therritory, where they remain
wild, that the supply is ample and cheap,
and there is not sufficient inducement to try
and raise them here.
~ InWY MN N IT NxryNI